Photo: Marko Unger
Josef Zaruba and Andrea Pizzitola topped the two qualifying sessions at the final round of the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC season at the Nurburgring.
Pizzitola will start two races from pole this weekend, with Friday afternoon’s opener having been postponed from the last round at Most and the grid being set by the top six finishers from the first race in the Czech Republic being reversed, putting the Frenchman at the head of the grid.
Zaruba claimed a surprise pole for race two, having finished no higher than tenth in races so far this season. The AVF driver was 0.034 seconds quicker than second-placed Gustav Malja. Less than a tenth separated the top four drivers in the session, with Pizzitola taking third and title contender Louis Deletraz fourth.
Championship leader Ben Barnicoat will start the second race one place behind his closest rival Deletraz, and have his Fortec team-mate Seb Morris alongside him on the third row of the grid. Standings P3 driver Steijn Schothorst was seventh ahead of Zaruba’s AVF team-mates Matthew Graham and Jules Gounon, with Ryan Tveter completing the top ten.
Malja was second again in the second session, 0.115 seconds behind Pizzitola with a late effort. The Swede split the two leading Manor MP cars, with Schothorst being forced to settle for third.
Deletraz was fourth again, with practice pace-setter Jake Hughes fifth for ART. Gounon was sixth ahead of Morris, Callan O’Keeffe, Tveter and Zaruba.
Barnicoat, who has a 12-point lead in the standings, could only manage 15th in the second session.
Race grids
| Qualifying 1 ? Race 2 grid | Qualifying 2 ? Race 3 grid | ||||||||
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
| 1 | Josef Zaruba | AVF | 1:57.297 | 1 | Andrea Pizzitola | Manor MP Motorsport | 1:56.635 | ||
| 2 | Gustav Malja | Josef Kaufmann | 1:57.331 | 0.034 | 2 | Gustav Malja | Josef Kaufmann | 1:56.750 | 0.115 |
| 3 | Andrea Pizzitola | Manor MP Motorsport | 1:57.354 | 0.057 | 3 | Steijn Schothorst | Manor MP Motorsport | 1:56.894 | 0.259 |
| 4 | Louis Deletraz | Josef Kaufmann | 1:57.371 | 0.074 | 4 | Louis Deletraz | Josef Kaufmann | 1:56.909 | 0.274 |
| 5 | Ben Barnicoat | Fortec Motorsports | 1:57.548 | 0.251 | 5 | Jake Hughes | ART Junior Team | 1:56.914 | 0.279 |
| 6 | Seb Morris | Fortec Motorsports | 1:57.564 | 0.267 | 6 | Jules Gounon | AVF | 1:56.915 | 0.280 |
| 7 | Steijn Schothorst | Manor MP Motorsport | 1:57.567 | 0.270 | 7 | Seb Morris | Fortec Motorsports | 1:56.920 | 0.285 |
| 8 | Matthew Graham | AVF | 1:57.633 | 0.336 | 8 | Callan O?Keeffe | KTR | 1:56.937 | 0.302 |
| 9 | Jules Gounon | AVF | 1:57.765 | 0.468 | 9 | Ryan Tveter | Josef Kaufmann | 1:57.039 | 0.404 |
| 10 | Ryan Tveter | Josef Kaufmann | 1:57.780 | 0.483 | 10 | Josef Zaruba | AVF | 1:57.153 | 0.518 |
| 11 | Jake Hughes | ART Junior Team | 1:57.868 | 0.571 | 11 | Matthew Graham | AVF | 1:57.164 | 0.529 |
| 12 | Callan O?Keeffe | KTR | 1:58.119 | 0.822 | 12 | Ukyo Sasahara | Euronova Racing | 1:57.221 | 0.586 |
| 13 | Ukyo Sasahara | Euronova Racing | 1:58.135 | 0.838 | 13 | Stefan Riener | Speedfish Racing | 1:57.255 | 0.620 |
| 14 | Raoul Owens | Mark Burdett | 1:58.143 | 0.846 | 14 | Raoul Owens | Mark Burdett | 1:57.345 | 0.710 |
| 15 | Stefan Riener | Speedfish Racing | 1:58.206 | 0.909 | 15 | Ben Barnicoat | Fortec Motorsports | 1:57.390 | 0.755 |
| 16 | Julio Moreno | Manor MP Motorsport | 1:58.477 | 1.180 | 16 | Julio Moreno | Manor MP Motorsport | 1:57.447 | 0.812 |
| 17 | Martin Kodric | Fortec Motorsports | 1:58.495 | 1.198 | 17 | Martin Kodric | Fortec Motorsports | 1:57.735 | 1.100 |
| 18 | Robin Hansson | Fragus BR Motorsport | 1:58.567 | 1.270 | 18 | Roy Geerts | AVF | 1:57.921 | 1.286 |
| 19 | Roy Geerts | AVF | 1:58.784 | 1.487 | 19 | Robin Hansson | Fragus BR Motorsport | 1:58.468 | 1.833 |
| 20 | Ivan Matveev | Euronova Racing | 1:59.310 | 2.013 | 20 | Phillip Hamprecht | Inter Europol | 1:58.553 | 1.918 |
| 21 | Phillip Hamprecht | Inter Europol | 1:59.520 | 2.223 | 21 | Ivan Matveev | Euronova Racing | 1:58.648 | 2.013 |
| 22 | Inigo Bikuna | AVF | 2:00.128 | 2.831 | 22 | Inigo Bikuna | AVF | 1:58.789 | 2.154 |
| 23 | Harri Salminen | PositiOne | 2:01.880 | 4.583 | 23 | Harri Salminen | PositiOne | 1:59.948 | 3.313 |
| 24 | Robert Siska | Inter Europol | 2:08.304 | 11.007 | 24 | Robert Siska | Inter Europol | 2:04.847 | 8.212 |